Saturday, September 10, 2016

Hello blogging friends...it has been so long since I have been here. It seems pretty appropriate that I last had a post in April because on April 19th life in my family truly changed. My sister was in the hospital for some tests that we thought were related to her MS. On the 19th my mom, dad and I went to see her in the hospital and the neurology team came in with the news that she had a brain tumor. Not only a tumor but a stage 4 glioblastoma tumor which is fatal. She was given the options and she chose to have surgery, radiation and chemo. With this option she was given 12-18 months. Wow what a blow. It hurt so bad. She got out of the hospital and went home to my mom and dad's house. That weekend the whole family came to offer support, to cry together and to laugh together and it was great. On the 29th she had surgery, recovered, had 6 weeks of radiation and chemo, had some time off and now has started on another round of chemo.

It has really changed a lot in my life. I was always the one with health problems. 5 years ago I was in the hospital for 7 months, in a coma and had to learn to walk again and get to where I could be independent. Through a lot of hard work I made it back to where I could live alone but I am still disabled. My sister was always there for me. She was the strong one, she was the one I could turn to for help, she was there to help me through so many obstacles.

Now the tables have turned. She is very unstable and the site in her left eye is very bad because of where the tumor was. She cannot drive and she still has not moved home. My mom and dad are both 80 years old and although they are in good health this has taken a toll on them too. I try to be there for all of them. For for 4 and a half months I was there almost every day. I have cut it down a bit now but I still go out for a few hours every other day.

I think the hardest thing is knowing that it isn't IF the tumor will come back but when....it isn't trying to cure her cancer but giving her the best quality of life we can.

All prayers and good thoughts are appreciated. I just needed to et you all know what was going on.

Be blessed and hug those you love everyday and tell them you love them.